Through the Darkness
by Blue Spotted Leopard
Summary: As Lara Croft finds a tomb of a young girl in the middle of the desert, she finds an artifact that could that could wield great power. After being attacked by strange creatures for said artifact, she travels to California to learn more.
1. Chapter 1: The tomb

_I do not own Tomb Raider or Buffy the Vampire Slayer_

**Chapter 1: The tomb**

Deep in the desert of Egypt a long line of camels trampled through the shifting sands. Their riders were all thickly covered in linen, and there faces were completely covered to protect themselves from the airborne sand. At the front was a woman, with dark brown hair showing form under the veil and dark sunglasses, was examining a passage of script on a near mint piece of papyrus paper. She was reading a riddle, which spoke of a place in the middle of the desert, growing closer by the second.

The woman surveyed the area around her. After being in the desert for two hours they must be close. There had not been any defining landform in sight for hours; there was nothing but bare sand for miles. Suddenly there was a beeping sound coming form her pocket. Jumping off her camel she pulled out a GPS device form her pocket.

'We're close," she said to the others behind her, before taking off her cloak with a great sigh of relief. She never really liked wearing it, yet it was necessary to protect her form the sun. It just wasn't her style, being too heavy to move easily in it. She revealed a dark sleeved crew neck top, dark green shorts and high black boots. She also had two guns held in holsters on her belt. After what she's encountered, she never leaves home unprepared.

The man behind her looked suspicious, they seemed more nervous than when she met up with then in Cairo. They stayed in the shadow and where kind of twitchy when they moved into the light, fully covered up. However, her employer was the same, she never liked the man. One day he just sent her an email, talking about this find of his. She had never met up with him in person, which is never a good sign. Yet this papyrus was too good to dismiss.

The riddle spoke of a place that was close to life and immortality but farthest from all shadow. After many failures in finding this place, she knew that she must be there now. Back at home, her and her friend Zip spent days mapping out all possible locations via GPS. It was just her luck that all of them came up as a failure. This was her last chance. She believed that this place was close to the Nile as that was classed as the bringer of life, and near the pharaoh's tombs as they signified immortality. Yet the only place that was far form any shadows was the desert as it was a big expanse of nothing.

Reaching into her saddle she pulled out a par of binoculars and removed the compass from her belt. Looking north she could just see the Great pyramid of Giza, after stepping back five paces it disappeared altogether. She looked to the East until a very large rock formation came into view. She began to mark where these places disappeared.

"Farthest from all shadow," she muttered a piece of the riddle to herself, whilst marking West and South in the same manner.

"There," she pointed to the place where they all crossed. "The entrance is there, lets get digging." She paused for a moment. The markers she put down where in the shape of a crucifix. This was supposed to be an  
Egyptian tomb, not Christian, the papyrus itself predated the start of Christianity. The men also seemed cautious but eventually they began digging in the spot. Almost instantly one on the veiled men hit something hard. After brushing away the sand, a perfectly flat piece of limestone rock, intricately engraved with hieroglyphs was exposed. Further excavation of sand showed a clean-cut edge along the stone.

This definitely was not like any other Egyptian chamber she had uncovered, and she could tell that just by the entrance. She pulled a crowbar out of her saddlebag and shifted the rock, leaving it big enough for a person to fit through.

_**This has to be it,**_she thought as she threw a flare into the hole. It didn't go very far down. Looking back at the other men she said,

"Right chaps, lets get going." She unhooked a backpack from the saddle and put it on. She grabbed the edge of the hole and dropped down into the hole, followed by the other men. After landing with a thud, she began to look at the engravings on the wall.

"It's a grave," she said to herself.

"Are you sure Lara?" said a voice from the headpiece on her ear. "He said that it would be the greatest finds since the pyramids, but it is too far away from the river to be a pharaoh." Her friend Alistair was still at Lara's mansion helping with research. Him and Zip stayed there to help her if she needed any extra information; the library in the mansion was extremely extensive.

Lara replied, "No you're right, it's not a pharaoh." Which made it even more unusual. Who would go to such lengths to create a tomb of such great quality, for someone who is not royalty? She walked down the corridor from the entrance. Both sides of the wall were covered with scenes depicting severe bloodshed and violence that Lara could not figure out.

There was only one chamber; there were no elaborate statues of gifts for the afterlife, just a sarcophagus at the other end of the room. The walls were the same as those of the corridor.

The sarcophagus itself was wooden, yet it had the most beautiful engraving depicting the decreased. It was if a very young girl, she couldn't have been older than her twenties. Lara's eyes were drawn downwards; hieroglyphs on the side of the coffin were depicting a supernatural death. This place was getting more and more peculiar.

There was an inscription above the sarcophagus that read.

_Here lies the warrior against darkness,_

_She who fought against the undead_

_The Chosen One, killed in battle,_

_But forever fighting._

"What's that supposed to mean?" said someone else at the other end of the headphone. "Who the heck is the chosen one?"

Lara glanced back at the wall. "I don't know Zip, it doesn't make any sense. It says that the chosen one is a woman that is cursed with the strength of a demon, born to fight the undead." There was more but it was unclear.

One if the men behind her shouted _**What's**__**that? **_ Pointing toward the coffin. It was a spearhead, over half a metre long, placed on the sarcophagus' hands. This artefact was much older than the body and the tomb itself.

"Look at this," she said to Zip and Alistair. "This is much older than the rest, South African Tribal, I'd say."

"Yes, but what is it doing here?" mentioned Alistair.

Prying it from the coffin she took a closer look. There was nothing special about it. It was extremely plain. However, she suddenly heard the faintest _CLICK._

"OH, BUGGER!" she thought … booby traps.

Hastily she turned around only to find herself surrounded by the men.

"I think that you should give that to us," said one of the men.

"And if I don't?"

"He," said the man as her pointed to the one on his left, "will kill you." They were all unveiled now, and they seemed extremely pale. Behind them was a very narrow gap in the wall, about shoulder height. Lara grinned; she could faintly hear the cogs activating a trap.

_CLICK, CLICK, CLICK_

"What are you grinning about?" said the leader and she gestured to the gap. The Clicks were getting slower until _**BAM!**_ Ducking in the nick of time a steel blade shot through the room with great force. All but the leader was decapitated on the spot. He had just noticed in time.

The men turned into dust, awestruck Lara made her way to the door and into the corridor, hotly pursued by the man. Scrambling out the entrance she positioned herself, guns pointing toward the entrance.

Her mind was racing, who were those men, what did they want with the spearhead, how the heck did they turn into dust. This is exactly why she does not trust mysterious rich businessmen.

The man emerged from the entrance, fully veiled, and Lara opened fire, but it did not seem to slow him down. Out of sheer panic she ran towards him and kicked him to the floor. This seemed to stop him for a bit, so she tore off the veil to interrogate him.

"What do you…" her scream was cut off as the man suddenly caught fire and screamed for his life as he turned into dust.

Panting she fell to her knees,

"What on earth was that?" Screamed Zip.

"I don't have a clue. Do we have enough footage of the tomb?"

"I think so."

"Right then, could you both try and find out as much as you can about that girl, the spearhead and those men who attacked me?"

"RIGHT!" said both of them.

Lara walked up to the entrance and pushed the back over the entrance. She would inform the media as soon as possible, bit it was not safe to show the location just yet. They would have to go on the footage for now.

She went up to her camel and put her cloak and veil on again. She climbed up onto one of the camels and led the rest with her as she headed northwest, toward the nearest civilisation.


	2. Chapter 2: The speech night

_I do not own Tomb Raider or Buffy the Vampire Slayer_

**Chapter 2: The Speech Night.**

In a small village in the English countryside, the lights of Lara's home, Croft manor, shone through the darkness. Many cars were beginning to congregate outside the front as people in formal dress headed toward the entrance. These people were the highest scholars from around the world, and a murmur of excitement filled the entrance hall of the manor.

In her room Lara Croft was getting ready for her party. She was nervous, hands shaking.

_Why am I nervous, _she thought, _I'm never nervous._ But she couldn't help thinking that there was something wrong, something was different about this presentation, than the others. The find was unusual she'll admit. She had not heard from her employer since they last talked, just before heading off to Egypt. Men like those in Egypt were surely going to appear again and this evening was not to be ruled out. People seem to love causing as much havoc as possible and her security would be assumed to at it's weakest tonight.

Little do they know is that Zip had devised the most secure vault yet and she is dying to test it out.

"Lady Croft, your guests are waiting," it was Winston knocking on the door. Taking a last look in the mirror she sighed.

She was wearing a modest black strapless dress that stopped halfway down her calf. On her feet were black pumps and her hair was half up with ringlets. Her dress was loose enough to hide the knife on her thigh; she had a feeling that she was going to need it. Anyway she had spent most of the day setting the security system across the whole mansion, not just the vault holding the spearhead. Whilst doing this she had hidden some of her best guns just in case.

As she opened the door Winston was stood looking at her.

"Thank-you Winston, could you inform Zip to start the security system running, everyone should be here now. I'm going to start mingling."

"Of course Ma'am," he bowed, "you look lovely by the way."

Lara blushed as he walked away.

The entrance hall was packed full and as Lara made her way down the stairs everyone looked up to her and applauded. At the bottom stood Alistair and Zip. Zip looked odd in a black suit and tie, he almost never looked smart. At the bottom of the stairs Alistair mentioned that all the guests were present. Zip had secured the mansion and he assured that no one could get in or out.

She invited everyone into the ballroom and then she herself made her way to the stage. For about twenty minutes she made a presentation on what had been discovered in the tomb, with the footage of the tomb itself, running on a screen behind her. Finishing with applause she returned to the ballroom floor and began to mingle again.

Most people she spoke to were fascinated about the unusualness of he tomb and most asked whether she had learnt more about the spear. Rumours had spread about the fate of the men in the tomb but she denied any claims.

Those that were accusing her of murder had the same shiftiness as those who demised in the tomb. Positive that they were trying to cause trouble, she walked away coolly showing that they did not bother her.

Lara began to get a bit tense as time went on. However, she eventually bumped into an old friend of her father's.

"Lara, congratulations on this find," he said as he hugged her, "your farther would have been very proud."

"Thank-you Mr Pierce, although I haven't fully found out what it means yet."

Sternly Mr Pierce nodded, "yes, yes those inscriptions seem very sinister indeed. It could lead you to greater danger than you've already encountered. May I ask, is the spearhead safe, I fear that some of our company cannot be trusted."

Taken aback Lara nodded, "Yes it is safe, it is in the most secure place in the whole mansion. Zips new security system is just fantastic." He didn't seem convinced and he began shiftily looking at the men who had cause the trouble earlier, and they were looking back. It was as if they were waiting for something.

Suddenly they lunged toward Lara, but before she could reach for her knife Mr Pierce had shoved a very sharp wooden stake into her hands. He himself leaped towards one of them and stubbed him straight in the heart. Another attacked Lara from behind and she ducked, kicking him in the back of the legs causing him to fall on his back. Immediately she stabbed him through the heart, and as in the tomb, they disintegrated into dust.

She turned around to find everyone staring at both of them. The other man had disappeared.

Clearing her thought she announced,

"Clearly we are not safe here. My staff will escort you back to your cars. I am ever so sorry. I hope you enjoyed the rest of the evening." As she turned around she could hear Zip and Alistair at the doorway leading the guests out of the main entrance. Finally she caught up with the old man. He had a large package in his hands. Before Lara could open her mouth he began to talk,

"You may be needing this, it should give you an idea of what you are up against."

"But those men…"

"They were not men… look I shouldn't even be here, I must leave." he gave her a small card from his suit pocket, "here's my number should you need to call me. Goodbye." and he hurried out.

Stunned, Lara just stood there watching him leave. Once he was out of sight she looked and tore off the packaging on the parcel. It was a large leather-bound book. It had one large word on the front, written in gothic style. Not believing her eyes she looked down at the card, then back to the book. None of this makes sense. It just couldn't be saying what it was saying. She couldn't take her eyes off that one word:

_**VAMPYR.**_


	3. Chapter 3: The aftermath

_I do not own Tomb Raider or Buffy the Vampire Slayer_

**Chapter 3: The aftermath**

"Vampires?" Looking down at the leather-bound book Lara just slammed on the table.

"Yes Alistair, vampires!" The sun was just above the horizon letting an orange tinge of light through the library windows.

Lara carried on, "Look, I quickly skimmed through this last night. It all fits together. And explains the stakes, the sunlight and the strange way that those men looked last night. Don't act as if you didn't see them, definitely demonic!"

"Yes, but how did Pierce know?"

"I've got Zip looking for his address, the card only showed his number. I'd rather speak to him personally. Do you know what a watcher is?"

"No, why?"

"It was on his card, see if you can find anything about that as well in this book."

"Right, and the spearhead?"

"Yes, that too."

Leaving the library it was obvious the damage that had be caused was greater than expected. Not only were there damaged antiques and the furniture from the fighting, but the general party mess contributed a great amount as well. Zip was in his computer lab in the main hall. At the sound of Lara's footsteps he looked up from the computer he was working on.

"Any luck?"

"Not much luck on Pierce's address. However, I have managed to get onto the computer database of these so-called watchers. It seems quite new, not a lot of information in it. All the stuff is on vampires, which would explain the book. Still don't know what the watchers are though. Our best bet is Sunnydale California, U.S.A., they have a lot of data about there, especially about a girl who seems to fight demonic creatures."

"Yes, yes the Slayer." Alistair was walking down the grand staircase with the book in his arms. She's the one mentioned in the tomb."

"Excuse me?" Zip looked stunned.

"The girl you just mentioned, she's the chosen one is the girl mentioned in the tomb."

"No the girl in the tomb is not a live girl in the U.S.A."

"No they're both the same person. It all makes sense now." Alistair pushed up his glasses and began reading from the open page. "In every generation there is a chosen one, she alone must battle the forces of darkness. Don't you see it all fits with the inscription in the tomb. These so called Vampire Slayers are forever fighting because as soon as one dies, a new one is chosen. The girl in the tomb was one and the girl in California must be one as well."

Lara nodded, "Okay so we need to go to California, we could use all the help we could get, maybe this slayer could give us some information on what this spear does, and how we can stop the vampires from trying to steal it from me." She began walking up the stairs. "I'll start packing."

"No wait," Alistair was deeply engrossed in the book again. "There's more you need to know, it shows a picture of the spearhead. We better keep it as safe as possible, it doesn't say much but it mentions that if harnessed properly it can make the wielder unstoppable."

"Right then we better get packing then, we need to leave as soon as possible." and she disappeared into her room.


	4. Chapter 4: Sunnydale Graveyard

_I do not own Tomb Raider or Buffy the Vampire Slayer_

**Chapter 4: Sunnydale graveyard.**

Sunnydale graveyard, the place to be at night, apparently. Lara was walking through the graveyard looking for clues and doing what she does best; being an archaeologist she often was around the dead. The gravestones were dotted around haphazardly, form extremely (and unnecessarily) big to the small.

The moonlight shore through the trees silhouetting the cast iron fence that surrounded the area. The crypts and the mausoleums where covered with ivy, which gave Lara the impression that this place was very old. What she couldn't get a grip on was the size of the place, for a standard graveyard it was awfully large. The recent section was the largest part of all, deaths from 1998 to the present. Why have so many people died so recently?

However, there was one thing she knew and that graveyards in the dark= **BAD!**

"Are you sure that this is the right place?" asked Lara. "What makes you sure that she will be here?"

"Well isn't it obvious?" said Alistair. "Once vampires are sired they raised from their graves at night. Therefore, the slayer would be hunting for them in the graveyard."

"_But why is it always when it is creepy" _thought Lara as she shifted uneasily from one foot to the other. _"I bloody hate gra…" _but someone interrupted her train of thought.

"Excuse me miss," Lara spun around to find a man standing right behind her. "Are you sure your safe out here? Its not safe at night, people are always getting attacked." _Well that's just a strange way of putting it_ and the tone of his voice was very creepy, as if a stalker had decided to talk to you after following you for months. He was glancing at her guns, completely un-phased.

"Well thanks for the advice," Lara smiled, "But I can handle myself. Its you who should be worried, being unarmed and all."

"Oh don't worry I'm not afraid of guns." _Why would he say that? _Why should she be a threat to him, after he had warned her? He was glaring at her with hunger in his eyes._ "_It's just nice to have some fresh meat around here. Especially like you." This can't be good, Lara didn't like this at all, but before she could say anything he jumped at her. Lara reacted with great swiftness and shot him in the chest, until Lara kicked him in the stomach. As he fell onto his back, Lara noticed that his face had changed.

With his piercing yellow eyes and sharp teeth, he definitely was a vampire.

"_Why does the bad guy always do the innocent act?" She thought._

"So guns don't kill you," looking down on him with her foot on his chest, his face screwed up in agony. "It doesn't mean that you shouldn't be afraid of them. I mean that chest wound must hurt… a lot. However," Putting her gun back it's holster she pulled out a wooden stake from the pocket beside it. " This I know you are afraid of." She put the stake in both of her hands and pulled it out into a long wooden lance, one of the nifty gadgets that Zip had made for her. She pointed it at his heart, inches away from piercing his skin.

"One mistake and your dead…er. Now what do you know about the slayer?"

"What about her?" Her boot dug deeper into his chest. "Arrrggh, she patrols every night in the graveyard, killing our kind"

"What is her name?"

"Buffy… Buffy Summers? Now please don't kill me. I'll do anything I can … I can make you immortal, you'd like that wouldn't you?"

"Oh please. How stupid do you think I am?"

Laughing nervously the man said, "Heh, it was worth a shot." And with one large sweep he knocked her leg, leaped up and ran away, hunched over in pain.

"Damn it!" Exclaimed Lara. There was no point in trying to follow him, he wasn't going to be much more help. "Did you get that Zip, Buffy Summers. Try to find out where she lives, maybe we could talk to her there."

"O.K. I'll be ten minutes tops."Distant footsteps could be heard behind her.

"I've got to go. Be quiet, they may hear you and give up my position." And Lara then sneaked off in that direction.


	5. Chapter 5: Enter the slayer

_I do not own Tomb Raider or Buffy the Vampire Slayer_

**Chapter 5: Enter the slayer**

"I don't care whether or not you can hit me Spike, I can still beat you up if I wanted to. now leave me alone." Buffy Summers was medium height and blond with long golden locks. She was storming through the graveyard trying to avoid the man following her. His long black leather coat was billowing behind him. Who knows how much hair care product he used but his bleached platinum blonde hair was combed back with such precision that it had to be a lot. Generally the look suited him, although some may say that he was a Billy Idol wannabe.

"Oh, you just can't take it that I can actually hit you," he said. "You just don't like being reminded that you came back wrong!"

"Shut up Spike. I didn't ask you… is something wrong?" She turned around to see Spike frozen on the spot, listening.

"I … I thought I heard a gunshot, behind those bushes…" he pointed, "…nearby."

"Really? Then why didn't I gear it then, if it was that close by?"

"Because it ad a silencer on. It was definitely a silencer!"

Buffy was having none of this. "Are you playing with me? Look I'm not in the mood for you to be messing around like this." Caught off guard a vampire leaped from the bushes in the direction that Spike indicated.

She almost dusted him before she realised that she had a gaping gunshot wound in his chest.

"Told you," grinned Spike.

"Who did this to you?" asked Buffy. She had the vampire pinned to a large gravestone.

"Please, Please don't dust me," begged the vampire.

"Look just tell me who did this to you," asked Buffy.

"Please, please," he carried on.

"Are you listening!" Buffy shook him violently. "Snap out of it!"

"Why should I trust the slayer," finally he had snapped out of it and he was looking at her in the eye.

"Look mate," said Spike, "we are only trying to find out who did this to you. Listen to the woman would you!"

"Ok Spike I'll talk, but only because you'll want to hear this."

"huh?"

"It was a woman, she looked like those people who did that thing to you. Those who made you our enemy. You know who I mean, the, the…"

"Initiative." Buffy finished him off. "Are you sure what you saw?" The initiative was an underground military base that was situated beneath Sunnydale. They hunted creatures, sub-terrestrials as they called them, for experiments. The experiments were inhumane, even against creatures as evil as the demons they captured. Spike was the worst of them all before the initiative got hold of him and put a microchip in his heat. Now he cannot hurt any human without getting a splitting headache. Buffy thought this should be a good thing, but she cannot slay a harmless creature, no matter how annoying he may be.

Generally he caused no trouble until they created a Dr Frankenstein, demon, man, and machine thing. It caused havoc and since then Buffy refused to have anything to do with the government. Their methods were too blunt, which was not to her liking at all. If the initiative was back then there was going to be hell to pay.

"Tell be everything!" demanded Buffy.

"It was one woman, fully armed with guns, stakes and nifty gadgets. She had a stake that transformed into a spear, not the stuff you would not the stuff you would usually find in your demon hunting kit. Very high tech, you see. She even had a headpiece on and was talking to the others about you."

"Me?" Buffy said and began to sigh, "Of course, that's definitely the initiative alright. Don't you think Spike… SPIKE?" Yet he was nowhere to be seen.

"Typical, now is there anything else you want to tell me?"

"Will it stop you from killing me?"

"Why should I do that?" replied Buffy, "It sounds like you deserved to get shot."

"But, look I'm helpless," he pleaded.

"All the better reason to put you out of your misery."

"Well then I'm off," he knocked her arms and ran for it but he was dust before he took more than three steps.

"Why do they always run?" Buffy asked she. "Oh well, I couldn't stand his rambling anyway." After taking a deep breath she sighed. _"The initiative… why are they always causing so much trouble?" _ She paused for a while, deep in thought before she came out with one word, "Giles." and walked out the graveyard with great swiftness.


	6. Chapter 6: Spike's Encounter

_I do not own Tomb Raider or Buffy the Vampire Slayer_

**Chapter 6: Spike's Encounter **

Taking a deep breath Lara watched the girl disappear out of the graveyard. She obviously was on a mission to tell someone about the encounter. Giles. Was that a person, an organisation or even her watcher?

"Hmm I wonder," she muttered under her breath while she was crouching in the shadows on top of a crypt. After seeing all the proceedings on her hiding place, she was 99% sure that she had fond the slayer that she was looking for.

"I cannot believe it!" exclaimed Alistair in her ear. "That was her, the one they spoke of on the walls of the tomb, in the books! It must be!"

Lara sighed, "I think we figured that out Alistair. But wedo need to find out more about her before we jump to conclusions. However, I'm definitely certain that she may be able to help us."

She stood up and began walking to the edge of the roof, stretching her legs. Crouching down like that for so long gives you awful cramp. At the edge she did a handstand and flipped down. Both Alistair and Zip gasped.

"For crying out loud Lara, could you warn us when you are going to …. ARRRGH!" A blonde man suddenly appeared out of the shadows and slammed her back to the wall of the crypt. The wall hit her with such force that her back felt like there was many needles piercing her skin. Oddly the man also winced in pain.

"Get off!" She exclaimed as she struggled to break free. Alistair and Zip were both yelling at her to get out. _"What use is that?" _ she thought, "_I'm pinned to the wall." _He was too strong for her.

"My, my what a good little stunt." the man said, referring to the flip. "We are a little acrobat, something they taught you I expect."

"What are you talking about? GET OFF!"

"Can't let that happen love, I've been waiting too long to get my hands on one of you, Buffy thinks she's all that because of what you lot have done to me. DO you have any idea how annoying this has become?" he murmured.

"I still have no idea what you are talking about." she paused. "Wait you're British."

"Of course I'm _English_," he emphasised. "Although I have not been there for decades. Now you initiative piece of scum."

"initiative? Never heard of it." He let her go and started to yell at her. Lara got onto her feet drawing her guns, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Don't lie to me, why else would you be sneaking around Sunnydale, like that," he pointed to her attire.

"I' m an archaeologist," began Lara. "I'm currently studying the origins of an artefact I found, that lead me here. If you had seen and been through the things that I have you would carry guns as well."

"Then why were you snooping about on that roof," asked Spike, who had calmed down a little bit.

"I was just hiding because I heard some footsteps." Spike seemed convinced, her heartbeat stayed steady throughout her story. Either she was telling the truth or she was a good liar.

"You're a crazy woman you know that," he said. "No wait, all women are!"

"And I'll shoot you if you don't leave me alone."

"Fine, I'll go, but if I find out you are part of the initiative, I will kill you," he skulked off. "Just a little bit of advice love," he turned back to her, "Lay off the alluring perfume, us vampires could find you miles around with that scent." Grinning he carried on into the shadows, leaving Lara looking very confused.

"_But, I'm not wearing any perfume" _she thought.

"I don't know why but I'm beginning to dislike this town," she said aloud. "I mean what the heck is the initiative."

"And who was that?" asked Alistair.

"Well I'm not paying you to sit around and do nothing, why don't you go and find out!"

"Woohoohoohoo," Exclaimed Zip. "Touchy!"

"Oh sorry, he just really annoyed me!"

"The slayer called him Spike, maybe I can find him in my books," said Alistair.

"Fine," said Lara. "Well its time to call it a day. do you have the address to the hotel?"

"Sure," Zip said. "your stuff is already here."


	7. Chapter 7: The magic shop

_A/N: I do not own Tomb Raider or Buffy the Vampire Slayer_

_Sorry just a short chapter for now._

**Chapter 7: The Magic Shop **

The magic Box is a shop hidden in the corner of the Sunnydale high street. It sold all sorts of magical bits and bobs. It had books and ingredients, for potions and spells. Amateur or not this was the place to go.

Inside sat a crowd of people around a table covered in open books.

"Why are we doing this again?" complained the dark haired boy. Alexander Harris had his head in a book and was talking into the pages. The eyes of a redheaded woman and two blondes looked up at him.

"Because Xander, we are being paid," Said Rupert Giles, the middle aged man with glasses. "It makes a difference to be paid to research something." That afternoon a woman had came into the shop and asked them to research a very unusual spell.

"I can't see why it can't be like the normal demons and stuff. I think I was getting the hang of it!" Retorted Xander.

"Oh, come on this spell stuff is interesting," said Willow the redhead.

"Yeah, I'm really learning a lot!" said one of the blonde haired women.

"And think of all the money," said the last woman, Anya, rather bluntly. Xander looked at them all, discontent for a few minutes.

"Fine!" he moaned and went straight back to research. They all sniggered under their breath. _Typical Xander_, Willow thought, _never willing to accept something new. Especially if it's difficult._

"Just think of this as a one off. Its pretty unlike that you will asked to do this again," said Tara. Looking slightly happier Xander smiled at her whilst turning the page.

"That's my girl," praised Willow as she looked lovingly into Tara's eyes.

The 'Scooby gang' sat in silence for ten minutes researching before the bell rang at the entrance, indicating that someone was entering the shop. Buffy stormed through the door,

"Giles we nee to talk!" She exclaimed.

"What! Is there something bad happening? Ascension, nest new demonic entity bent on destroying the world?" asked Giles.

"No."

"Then what seems to be the problem?" he questioned.

"They're back, the damn initiative are back and they're causing trouble already."

"C'mon Buff," Said Xander, looking rather relieved at this interruption from researching. "Why would they come back? They know what will happen if they do."

Buffy sat down and explained everything about her encounter with the vampire.

"So it all fits, the guns and the demon bloodlust. The whole description. I mean the vampire himself, there is no other explanation."

"Yes there is," said a voice in the shadows near the back door.

"I said to you earlier Spike, just leave me alone!"

"Fine, all I'm saying is that wasn't the initiative."

After a long silence Buffy spoke up,

"Ohhhh, then who was it then?"

"After I left you with the pitiful excuse for a vampire I caught a scent of her and we had a little chat. She wasn't from the initiative; I could tell that she wasn't lying. She was bloody crazy though, saying she was an archaeologist. I mean couldn't she come up with a better story than that?"

"Archaeologist?" questioned Giles.

"That's what I said. An English archaeologist. Now you know why I left England with all you crazy English folk."

"Ha, your last girlfriend was crazy as it gets," retorted Buffy.

"Well she was special."

Giles took no notice at what Spike said and seemed to be in deep thought.

"Willow can I borrow your computer, give me half an hour and I can tell you who this mystery woman is." Willow looked a bit shocked and got her laptop out of her backpack. She handed it over to Giles and he went to sit at the till. Not only was it strange that he wanted to use her computer instead of his beloved books. He always said that computers were a fad and that they wouldn't last. He had also never been as secretive when he obviously knew who it was before he did the research. Apparently unphased by Giles' strange actions Buffy stood up.

"I'm taking a shower," se said and disappeared into the back room. Everyone else all seemed a bit bewildered, so Spike carried on with his story.


	8. Chapter 8: Lara in the Sunnydale hotel

_A/N: Hey sorry for the long wait but I've just finished my exams so I've been kind of busy. _

_The next two chapters are a bit boring, just explaining the two backgrounds as the two groups find out about each other, sorry._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Tomb Raider._

**Chapter 8: Lara in the Sunnydale hotel**

"There's something I'm missing," Lara mumbled to herself as she stared at the brown flowery wallpaper in her hotel room. She was sat on her bed, back against the wall and was looking at her laptop screen in front of her. She had been back from her adventure at the graveyard for a good few hours now.

Zip and Alistair were in the other room busy looking for information about this Spike and Buffy Summers, because she needed to get in contact with them as soon as possible if she wanted to find out more about the spearhead. However, this 'initiative' they spoke of in the graveyard had sparked her interest, and she couldn't help to be curious. Yet, after spending hours searching for the smallest clue to tell her what it was she had come up with nothing. Whenever she ran the key word through the search engine it all came up the same. Even the most superstitious websites had nothing on the matter except the definition, 'the power or ability to begin or to follow through energetically with a plan or task; enterprise and determination.' [1]

Why on earth would she want that? She irritably thought. The Oxford dictionary could give her that and her wouldn't had spent hours searching for it.

Eventually she called it quits and went to see how the boys where doing with their research. The room was he same size as hers, with the same ghastly wallpaper. However, it was much more cluttered than her room. As she walked through the door that connected the two rooms together she first noticed a desk in the corner. It was covered in open books, with Alistair hunched over them, skimming each page with exceptional speed. The other desk was against the wall joining the two rooms. Hearing a slight tapping sound she turned to see Zip surrounded be laptops, cross-referencing data he had been researching.

"Any luck boys?" she asked. Alistair jumped at the sound of her voice; he was obviously engrossed in his reading. Stifling a laugh Zip faced Lara, looking quite pleased with himself.

"Well, what do you want to know first?" he replied.

"Spike," she replied. "Tell me about him."

Alistair stood up and walked to a mobile pin board that had bee set up against the wall near his desk. Apparently a maid had walked in earlier and took one look at the room, before asking Zip and Alistair whether they were cops or not. But now Lara thought about it the room did look slightly suspicious with all the computers and the pin-board that Alistair was now stood next to looked like those that you saw on all the crime shows on the television. There were many pieces of paper, including newspaper clippings, pictures and scribbled notes.

"Zip and I have found out loads about him."

As he began to go over their findings, Lara made herself comfortable and sat on the edge of one of the beds.

"His original name was William Pratt, quite infamous really. Born sometime in the 1800's and turned into a vampire by a female vampire known as Drusilla. No one knows her real name but her and her 'friends' were some of the worst vampires you could find. The four of them: William, Drusilla, Angelus and Darla wreaked havoc in Europe. That was until they split up due to unknown circumstances and when in their own directions. William the bloody or 'Spike' stayed with Drusilla without." He cleared his throat and carried on, " he has killed two Slayers. One in China and on in New York, yet he has not managed to kill Buffy since arriving in Sunnydale in 1998. In the same year Drusilla left him and they both left Sunnydale before his return in 2000.

"The past few years he has been killing his own kind and demons, which in turn lead him to helping the slayer. Rumour is that he was taken underground and experimented on and now he cannot kill humans. As a result, he kills demons and such, just to get his daily dose of violence, I expect."

Lara stood up and examined the pin board. There were dozens of extremely old newspaper printouts; all had a picture of the man she had seen in the graveyard with a pale mysterious woman. She looked like she had a psychotic glint in her eye. Yet what Alistair had said had peaked her curiosity again. Was this underground place real? If it was it was probably something top secret to do with the government, and probably why she couldn't find any information on the initiative. It would also explain why Spike was angry at her last night. She'd have to ask Zip to help her out later.

"How'd you find all of this so quickly?" she questioned.

"It wasn't that hard really," replied Zip from behind her. "For a vampire he got himself a reputation with a lot people, supernatural and normal. Most of this is off the web. There were many Love/Hate websites on this guy. Anyway once we found out his real name we managed to find out all this about him."

"Impressive," replied Lara. "Do you have any idea why he changed his name to Spike?"

"Well apparently in his early days he was well known for impaling his victims with railroad spikes," said Alistair.

"Lovely," Lara said sarcastically, wishing she hadn't asked.

She carried o skimming the board until she came across a newspaper article with a large photograph of 4 people, looking rather menacing. It was 2 men and 2 women, taken during the 1800's, considering what they were wearing.

"Are these his comrades?" she questioned as she stared into the eyes of the other man in the picture.

"Ahh yes, that's Darla," he pointed to the blonde woman. His finger then moved to the other woman with darker hair. "And that is Drusilla, the one who turned him."

"And the man?" Asked Lara.

"That's Angelus, he seems to have a bigger reputation than Spike. Yet we didn't have time to look into him. Although we do know that her was one of the worst vampires in written history. Records about him dwindle in the late 1800's, around the time this photo was taken."

"Which was when?"

"Just after the Boxer rebellion in China, where Spike killed his first Slayer."

"I see," she replied. "And about this Buffy, what do you know about her?"

"Well she is not as well travelled as Spike, but there still is a lot about her on records," replied Zip. "She moved to Sunnydale about early 1998 after she was expelled from her previous high-school for setting the gym on fire. She graduated in 1999, when the high school blew up killing the mayor and the principal. She was considered dead last year until she mysteriously returned."

"Hmmm, something we both have in common then," she said thinking back to the time that she was trapped in a pyramid after the ascension of Set in 1999. She doesn't know why she carries on with all this danger after that disaster. Noticing Lara shudder, Zip carried on,

"Anyway she lives at this address," he indicated to his computer screen, "do you want to try and meet up wither there?"

"No, we don't know how she'll react if we just turn up at her door."

"It'll probably be the same way she'll react if she finds you snooping about after her," said Zip. He had never understood why Lara didn't take the easy approach. He looked at Alistair and by the expression on his face he was thinking the same thing as he was. Lara looked at the both of them and sighed,

"Yeah but like Alistair said, 'the best place to meet a slayer is in the graveyard,' it's where she works."

"Said the person who didn't like that idea in the first place," replied Zip. "But hey, its your choice." he shrugged his shoulders.

Smiling Lara moved towards the door.

"Great, we'll sort it out in the morning. Get some rest," she said. "Night."

She left the two men as they both sat there, knowing that once again, Lara's stubbornness was going to get them into trouble once again.

……

_[1]__ Definition from: __.com/initiative_

_Note: I did a quick research for initiative on google (after I wrote this chapter) and it did come up with some government enterprise like information, but for the purpose of this story all that could be found was simple dictionary definitions. Sorry about that._


	9. Chapter 9: Tomb raiders, mummies

_A/N: Another explanatory kind of chapter, but learning bout Lara's background instead, sorry if it is boring but it should pick up in the next few chapters. _

_Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Tomb Raider.

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**Chapter 9: Tomb raiders, mummies and dangerous artefacts.**

Back at the magic shop.

Twenty minutes after leaving for a shower Buffy re-emerged from the back of the shop refreshed and in a different change of clothing.

"Any Luck in finding out who this archaeologist woman is then?"

"I don't know," replied Willow. "Ask Giles, he's still got us researching for HIS client." Beginning to believe Xander was right and wondering why they were doing this research anyway. It was Giles client and he is the only one that isn't doing the research.

"As a matter of fact I have found out who she may be," responded Giles from behind the counter, where was studying Willows laptop that was on the side. "Is this her Spike? As you where the one who had seen this initiative woman after all" he turned the computer screen towards Spike so he could see the picture of the woman. She was tall with long dark brown hair and in her mid thirties.

"Yep that's her," confirmed Spike. "Who is she then?"

"I'm quite surprised you don't know already. That is the countess of Abbingdon, Lara Croft, the world famous archaeologist. She' quite well known for her unusual methods."

Xander looked giddy,

"Oh my God Spike, you met Lara Croft and you didn't even know who she was?" Yet everyone else looked at him blankly, having no idea who he and Giles where talking about.

"You don't know her?" He asked everyone. "How do you not know?" Buffy smiled at Xander, she knew what he was like for attractive women. He probably briefly saw her in a newspaper and was obsessed since.

"The question is how do you know about her Xander Harris?" She asked cheekily.

"Well ummm…errrr," Xander stuttered bright red. "I … errrr." His sentence trailed off as he began to stare at the plasma screen.

"Xander do you have a crush on that woman?" demanded Anya. "Look at her she's way to old for you honey."

"Anya, your over 1000 years old," retorted Xander.

"Are you saying she's better than me!"

"No, no I'm just saying that you're an older woman and that I like you." Anya still didn't seem convinced.

"Oh you LIKE me, is that it? Well if that how you feel then I'm…"

"Please!" Interrupted Buffy. "We are trying to find out why she is here. Giles if you would continue."

"Well in England she is very well known. As soon as I heard Spike's description I knew it was her. Lady Lara Croft, daughter of the earl of Abbingdon, Richard Croft. She followed in her father's footsteps and took up the profession of archaeology. He himself was well know for finding major sites of historical importance in places such as South America, Africa and Europe. However he never really was taken that seriously after he began to claim the location of places like Avalon and Atlantis."

"Oo I know where they are," exclaimed Anya excitedly. Giles looked at her and rolled his eyes before carrying on,

"Anyway, he was declared dead when he was lost in the field when Lara was eighteen. When she took up archaeology she was like any normal archaeologist with moderate finds and a lot of digging. However, with a great fortune in her hands she travelled the world and has been credited for at least 16 archaeological sites of international importance. Her thirst for adventure increased, leading her to more perilous places, hence why she began to carry the guns. It has been claimed that she has found Bigfoot, Pandora's box, rather unknown things such as the dagger of Xian, and even Atlantis, the city that her father couldn't find."

"What!" Exclaimed Willow. "We would have known if she had found a place like that. No one has ever found Atlantis."

"I'll have you know that a lot of the older demons know where it is," said Anya. "Anyway she couldn't have found it, because it was split into tiny little bits when it disappeared."

"Anya she claimed to find one of the lost islands of Atlantis, not the whole thing," continued Giles. "However, on her return the island was destroyed, leaving no trace of it behind. Therefore, no one believed her.

"She was believed dead in 1999 when a tunnel collapsed on her when she was in the Great pyramid in Egypt. She reappeared in a nearby town months later, back from the dead. It was impossible to survive in the desert that long and survive. Many say that the magic of the pyramid brought her back from the dead. No one really knows what happened.

"As for why she is looking for you," Giles has the screen facing him again and was clicking furiously fast. Her turned the screen back to the others and said,

"A few weeks ago she had found the most unusual tomb in the Egyptian desert. It was neither a pharaoh's nor a peasant's tomb. It was placed in the most unlikely place, yet the most unusual thing is this," he pointed at the hieroglyphs above the tomb.

"What does it mean?" Asked Buffy.

"_**Here lies the warrior against darkness,**_

_**She who fought against the undead,**_

_**The chosen one, killed in battle,**_

_**But forever fighting**__._

Buffy she had found the tomb of a previous slayer. She probably found out that you're the current slayer and has come asking questions about what she has found," said Giles.

"But what was in that tomb that made her what to know answers," Buffy asked.

"I don't know," said Giles. "There was a raid during her presentation at her mansion a couple of days ago, but nothing is known about it. We don't know what they were after or why. The media was paid a huge sum to keep quiet."

"Could you keep researching? I'd like to know as much about this woman as possible." Buffy sat down and helped herself to a doughnut.

"Spike if you want to stay, make yourself useful, help with the research." Spike shifted his weight nervously.

"I'll err… go check on Dawn," he said, swiftly walking out of the shop. "I'm probably more useful there."

"Ha, that got rid of him," smiled Buffy.

"We should have tried that sooner," giggled Willow.


	10. Chapter 10: More Graveyard Antics

_A/N: In this story no one knows that Buffy was in heaven before being resurrected, well except for Spike of course. Which is in series 6. I don't really remember whether this matches up with the rest of the aspects of Buffy that are used in the story. If you notice something off, sorry._

_I've done a couple of pictures that relate to this story, the links can be found on my profile._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Tomb Raider.

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**Chapter 10: More graveyard antics.**

The graveyard was quiet as Buffy sat on a large gravestone, waiting for the vampires and demons to show up. She hated days like these, having to wait around all night only to find that no vampires want to come out and play. She had spent the day training before picking up Dawn from school, while Giles carried out his research for both his client and on this Lara Croft that he spoke of last night. He hadn't got very far at all, especially with Willow and Tara at lectures all day and therefore unable to help. She wished that one of them would come around and relieve her from her boredom but due to Giles lack of progress, they promised to help him instead. Well… it wasn't so bad as long as Spike didn't come to annoy her like the night before. Because of his actions it was unlikely that she would find the archaeologist again in the graveyard, but there was still a chance so she'd thought that she had better stay on the case.

Something that Giles said last night about Lara Croft had rattled Buffy, although she didn't want to show it at the time. When her watcher mentioned that Lara might have died in the ruined tunnels of the pyramids, she began to feel somewhat empathetic towards the woman. She had grown curious to meet her and to find out herself what the archaeologist had been through. Buffy needed someone to help her cope with what she had been through the past few months, after she was torn out of a heavenly dimension and dragged into the Hell mouth, by her friends. She wants to find someone who has been what she has been through. If Lara had indeed died she wanted to know where she went, who revived her and how it felt to be alive again.

However, she pushed those thoughts away before she grew too anxious. Lara could have quite easily gone to one of those hell dimensions and, after what had happened to Angel, which was also another painful subject not easy to think about. So she continued to sit in silence, watching the mist roll in.

After she was sat for about another twenty minutes another person appeared on the scene. Sensing the new presence, Buffy tensed up and was ready to attack until she realised that it was her sister Dawn. After several minutes arguing they finally settled down again. Buffy didn't like the idea of Dawn out on patrol, she feared for her safety greatly. However, they has come to an agreement that if any danger came their way that she would stay out of trouble and not fight unless absolutely necessary.

Quite pleased with the outcome Dawn sat down beside her sister and they spoke quietly to each other, allowing Buffy to still stay alert. Although Buffy wouldn't admit it, but she was quite relieved that Dawn had come to rescue her from the dark and empty abyss that seemed to be the graveyard that night. It helped her keep her mind off more depressing thoughts.

It wasn't until midnight hat something began to happen, when Buffy heard a noise in the distance. Dawn and not heard it and was still carrying on with her story.

"And then she slid straight across the hallway floor and…"

"Dawn," Buffy interrupted. She put her finger on her mouth indicating for her sister to be quiet and Dawn shut up, rather grudgingly. Buffy pointed towards the source of the noise and told Dawn to stay put. Buffy moved toward the direction of the noise in the darkness. Dawn watched as Buffy hid behind a crypt, listening, but the person had just disappeared. She returned to Dawn,

"I wonder where it went," said Dawn.

"I don't know but I'm going to find out," replied Buffy. "Lets get tracking."

* * *

Lara had spent tot day as a civilian, taking in the sites and sounds of Sunnydale. There was not much she could do by nightfall so she thought it would be nice to fell like a normal person for once. Zip and Alistair had seen this uncharacteristic change in her personality as a bad omen, but still spent the day doing their normal business… researching. Normally Lara would help them out, but she felt the need to get away from the horrible old wallpaper in the hotel room.

There was not much really to see in Sunnydale. It had a nice zoo, but that didn't really appeal to Lara at all. The town centre was quite nice, along with the University campus. She was quite shocked to hear that the high school had been burnt down about two and a half years earlier, so she gave that a quick look.

However, it wasn't long before she was stood, once again, staring at the black iron cast fence of the graveyard. She was wearing a green shirt with a brown vest underneath, beige trousers, black fingerless gloves and tall black boots. She was fully armed with her usual guns in her holsters along with stakes and some more gadgets that Zip had managed to make for her, which included her compact wooden javelin that she had used the night before. Around her neck was a wooden crucifix detailed with silver, it used to be her mother's before she disappeared. Her hair was in its usual braid down her back and her bangs that framed her face were hiding the headset she had on to communicate with the boys at the hotel.

She vaulted over the fence, making sure that she didn't get caught by the spikes, and landed softly on the damp grass. The mist had gotten denser as the night went in and it now hovered about a foot off the ground, obscuring the view of her feet.

"So boys," asked Lara. "Do you think I should stay put or go around looking for her?"

"I think you should go to her house like I said earlier," said Alistair.

"Oh, for crying out load Alistair. I'm here now!"

"I think you should look around and cover as much ground as possible. I have the blueprints here. This graveyard is huge. It'll take hours to completely cover all the grounds," said Zip.

"O.K. thank-you Zip," said Lara and she started to make her way around the graveyard.

Zip was right and Lara spent hours exploring the graveyard. She went around to where she had the encounter before and went from there. It was quiet compared to the previous night and the mist was still getting thicker.

"_Maybe the vampires and demons are afraid of this mist," _she thought to herself, chuckling. She wondered around until midnight, and she began to hear voices a few hundred metres away.

"DID YOU HEAR THAT!" yelled Alistair in her ear, causing Lara to wince in pain.

"Shhh, they heard you idiot," whispered Lara. "It could be vampires." She darted in the other direction to hide. Looking over to her previous position she saw the blonde head of the slayer appear looking for the source of the noise. Lara grinned,

"Now," she muttered under her breath. "Lets see how good you are." and she disappeared into the darkness.

Silently Lara made her way through the graveyard, with Buffy at hot pursuit. Hiding behind a crypt, Alistair began to express his panic.

"Why are we hiding from her? Really Lara why can't you just stick to one plan?" Asked Alistair.

"Well she is the slayer, I want to see what she could do. It'll be fun!"

"But Lara…"

"Really Alistair, lighten up." interrupted Lara. "She's the closest thing I've has to fun in ages."

"Who… me?" Asked a voice behind her. Lara spun around to see a grinning slayer looking down from the top of a large gravestone. The two women made eye contact and Lara grinned back.

"Let the battle commence," said an excited Zip in her ear.

"Indeed," answered Lara as she started running towards the slayer, ready to attack.


	11. Chapter 11: Test

_A/N: Just small chapter this time, I didn't want the fight scene in the last chapter._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Tomb Raider.

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**Chapter 11:**** Test**

Buffy saw as Lara came hurtling towards her, fists clenched. The woman tried to knock her feet and unbalance her, but as soon as her fists came towards her she jumped off the gravestone and over Lara's head to land behind her. Lara spun around and instantly started her attack. Her left arm went towards her face as her right went to her shoulder. Buffy managed to block these, but she hadn't expected the archaeologist to be so fast. After jumping over a sweeping kick the blonde found an opening and threw a punch at her side, only to find that it had been blocked.

Lara flinched at the sheer strength of the girl before her. She had tried to block the punch with her arm and as soon as she hit her arm instantly bruised. That wasn't supposed to hurt like that. Buffy turned to press an advantage by cornering Lara against a gravestone, but was surprised as Lara managed to back flip onto the top of the stone. She balanced for a few seconds, before Buffy began to seek revenge and tried to knock her feet off the stone. She dodged the punches with ease, shifting her feet away from the blonde's fists. After Buffy threw her last punch, Lara dud a handstand on the narrow stone, flicking her feet in Buffy's direction. She tried to kick her in the face. After the blonde narrowly dodged, Lara landed on the ground and the two women carried on with their combat. They barely managed to get a hit on one another and both of their movements were fast. Dawn had trouble trying to keep up with their movements.

Lara really liked the girl's fighting style. Although she couldn't pinpoint a single style, she admired how she managed to adapt many styles into her own technique. Her strength was truly incredible.

Buffy didn't remember when she had a fight that was on such equal grounds. Not even most vampires and demons showed as much skill as the brunette in front of her. She made up for her lack of strength with sheer skill. Buffy shivered at the idea what she would be like if those guns were involved.

After ten more minutes sparring the two women stopped, both deciding that they had seen enough.

"That was the most fun I've had in ages," panted Buffy. Lara smiled,

"You are a very skilled fighter, where did you learn such unusual techniques?"

"I mostly just improvise to be honest," replied Buffy. "Now that we have tested each other… why are you here?"

"I was looking for you," Lara answered. "Can we talk somewhere more comfortable?"

"Sure, Giles is kind of expecting you to appear soon anyways," Buffy smiled. "You sure scared that vampire last night."

"That's what he gets for assuming that I'm a helpless woman. I get that all the time and it's annoying," exclaimed Lara. Buffy laughed.

"I know, they are so stupid aren't they? I actually prefer that they think I am helpless, i find it easier to kill them when they aren't expecting it."

"Indeed." they started to make their way out of the graveyard, as Dawn came running towards them.

"Oh my God," she exclaimed. "That was so cool. I haven't seen anyone take on Buffy so easily in like forever. Where did you learn to fight like that? Can you teach me?"

"No," said Buffy. "You can learn to fight when I say your ready."

"But,"

"No, buts," she turned to face Lara. "This is my sister Dawn."

"Nice to meet you Dawn," said Lara. "I never properly got to introduce myself. I'm Lara Croft, nice to meet you both." Dawn smiled and shook her hand before carrying on.

"Why did you start fighting back there?" She asked.

"I wanted to have a little fun, I knew your sister was good, I wanted to test that. you know that I don't get to fight that many normal people in tombs."

"If you think I'm normal then I think you may have got the wrong girl," Buffy smirked. "Although I wanted to test your strength too." Dawn carried on bombarding her with questions.

"Giles said that your house was attacked by strange men. where they vampires?"

"Yes," replied Lara.

"What where they after," she questioned.

"I'll tell you when we meet up with this Giles person. Who is he anyway?"

"He's my watcher," Buffy replied.

"Oh, the archives said nothing about him."

"What?" Buffy questioned.

"My guys did a little research, we err kind of hacked into the watchers databases." Lara replied. Buffy burst out laughing.

"Those bastards actually started to use technology," she paused. "Does it feel any colder to you?" Dawn started laughing as well, just another day at the hell mouth.

"I assume that you don't like the council then?"

"Nope," replied Buffy. They made their way down the high street. Lara saw a small shop in the corner, it had a large sign with "THE MAGIC BOX" written on it.

"We're here," said Buffy, stopping at the entrance of the shop, opening the door.


End file.
